Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac won $100,000 after taking his first Monster Energy Cup win Saturday night at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
$1,000,000 was on the line for any rider who could win all three 10-lap main events but, after Ken Roczen - now riding a Honda - won Race 1, he crashed out while leading in Race 2, essentially taking him out of the running for the overall win.
Tomac went on to win the second race, and so was leading the points heading into the third and final race of the night, having finished second in Race 1.
However, Marvin Musquin and Ryan Dungey were close behind him in points, and all three found themselves fighting in the middle of the field after Chad Reed took the holeshot for Race 3. Reed’s lead was short-lived, however, as Mike Alessi took it from him in Turn 2, and Reed went down.
Alessi lost the lead and the win to Roczen at the halfway point, while Musquin, Dungey and Tomac placed second, third and fourth respectively, giving Tomac the overall win. Dungey was the Monster Energy Cup runner up for the fifth time in his career.
"It was a crazy race and I did not make it easy on myself with a terrible start," said Tomac. "I knew going into the race that I just needed to finish behind Ryan [Dungey] and I was able to catch up to him and have a good battle before settling on the last lap. I'm really happy with tonight's performance and looking forward to the next season."
In addition to the Cup Class riders, the Super Mini and Amateur All-Stars riders were also in action.
Stilez Robertson took the holeshot in the first Super Mini race of the night, which was contested between 13-16 year olds, but lost the lead to Seth Hammaker on Lap 2, who went on to win the first race of the night. Robertson placed second, which helped him clinch the overall win when he took the checkered flag in the second race of the night. It wasn’t without a fight. Robertson battled both Hammaker and Carson Mumford throughout the race to take the win on his Kawasaki.
In the Amateur All-Stars, Cameron McAdoo took home the overall win and, due to him taking the holeshot in both events, a new Toyota Tacoma truck. McAdoo tied with Challen Tennant on points at the end of the night, but took the overall honors after placing seventh and first, while Tennant placed second in Race 1 and then sixth in Race 2. Mitchell Falk took the Race 1 win but went down in a crash in Turn 1 in the second race. Sean Cantrell placed third in Race 1 and was looking to win the event overall, but then went down with two laps to go in the second race.
The 2017 Monster Energy Supercross season kicks off with Anaheim 1 on Jan. 7.
